Red River Pro
CARL JUSTE

The Photographer
Carl Juste has been a staff photojournalist at the Miami Herald for more than 15 years, shooting several thousand domestic and international assignments and deeply touching readers with his dramatic images. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and he has won many prestigious awards. He is the co-founder of the Iris PhotoCollective, a specialized photo agency created by and for communities of color.

The Client
The Miami Herald

© Carl Juste

The Assignment
Cover the funeral of the Rev. Gerard "Jeri" Jean-Juste, the Catholic priest who transformed and galvanized Miami's Haitian community in its fight for political and social equality.

The Execution
"The daughter and father were about thirty feet away and positioned between several rows of people. My Canon Mark III was set to ISO 2000 with a -1/3 exposure compensation and I knew I could retrieve a good quality image, though the lighting was not ideal, but there was one problem- distance. My Canon 80-200mm zoom lens was not going to do the trick, so I switched to the 300mm with stabilization control.

"The indicated exposure was 1/80 sec at f/2.8. Keeping the camera as still as possible, I braced it close to my face and captured the image by releasing the shutter three times when their faces were optimal for visibility. This is the best shot of the three."

Post Production
"The image was captured in color and converted to black and white. Since the lighting was so poor and the content so strong, I felt the image was more effective minus color so I removed all the saturation from the image so as not to loose any information from the file and made some other minor adjustments. By stripping the image of all color, the emotional content became more pronounced, it read much quicker, and gave the eye direct access to my original intent."

The Output
"I printed this image using an Epson Stylus Pro 4000 with Epson Ultrachrome Ink on Red River Paper's 60lb. Polar Matte paper. After making some quick adjustments to the original file and printing profile, I was surprised at how well the paper kept true to the original image.

"The blacks were rich but not too dark, while my highlights kept plenty of detail. The 60lb. Polar Matte produced the right balance of contrast and detail even with a file that was captured at an extremely high ISO setting. Polar Matte gives me the results I need under extreme lighting conditions. It is my paper of choice. "

Contact
Carl can be contacted at: cjuste@irisphotocollective.com. More of his work can be seen at www.irisphotocollective.com